The Fight Within
by purplerockz
Summary: Charlestown was a symbol of hope for the Second Mass. Heck, running water alone was a symbol of hope. When a mysterious girl arrives in the Second Mass, will she be trusted? What happens when she makes a deep bond with a certain Mason brother?
1. Chapter 1

**Spikes**

The camp was awfully lively, little Matt helped with his first Skitter kill, Weaver was reunited with his daughter, and Tom finally had his family back. Everyone was rejoicing, drinking and eating-the little they had-with joy. All were laughing, except one, Ben.

He positioned himself on a nearby hill, overlooking the entrance to there camp. Jimmy was dead. The skitters were still-and always will be-after them. No one in the camp trusted him. What was there to by happy for. He sighed, angry.

He closed his eyes, hoping to enjoy the silent peace, when the sound of an engine roared in the distance. His eyes popped open as he readied his gun, everyone was back at camp already. There shouldn't be anyone coming towards them. He reasoned killing a few skitters would give him some relief.

He could hear some people in the camp shout and murmur with curiosity as the sound got closer.

"Skitters?"

"No, maybe more survivors!"

"Just open fire, it'll be safer that way."

"Maybe it's someone we thought was missing!"

Many of the fighters and non-fighters pointed out possible results as it got even closer. Ben squinted as he saw a faint light approaching.

"At ease until my command!" Weaver shouted above the crowds, everyone listening to his command. Many had there fingers twitching towards there triggers as the light shun towards the camp. Weaver muttered something to himself as the motorized bike entered, skidding to a stop. The light and engine were cut off and gasps were heard.

Ben was even shocked a little. With his enhanced eyesight we could see the figure jump off the bike gracefully.

"So, you're the second mass?" Her voice rang with confidence. Ben was down the hill by the time she approached Weaver.

He slid towards his father who stood backing there leader up, even Hal was amazed. The girl must have been the same ages as him or Hal. She had long brown hair and bright eyes. Her smile was white and dazzling as she greeted Weaver.

It wasn't her beauty that shocked evey one-no she was quit average-it was how clean she was. He could smell the freshness of her, the light scent of her shampoo and perfume. Her hair was shinny and clean, with no frizz or grease. Her smile was white, the whitest he's seen in awhile. Her cloths were fresh, and clean. Her skin was radiant and pore less. When she shook hands with Weaver he could just imagine how soft her hands were.

"I'm from Charleston." She was interrupted by the chatter of everyone near by. She cleared her trought, ending the noise. "I believe my friend flew by here."

"Yes, she told us all about the new government that was set up. We were planning on heading there." Weaver spoke, making the girl laugh.

"That's great. I was sent to go by land to search for any groups of survivors the planes missed." She explained, "I was dropped off by another plane at a small air field about a few days away from here. From there a group of us split up." She finished, handing him a rolled up paper from her jacket.

Ben could tell it was the same paper the lady from the plane showed him.

"I'll gladly help escort you there." She smiled, following Weaver to the command tent, Tom, Ben, and Hal on there heels.

As they entered, some of the men already in there stopped and stared. "Hello." She smiled as she took a place next to a large map, everyone gathering around the table.

"I'm Adelaide by the way." She said nonchalantly as her hand passed over the torn map.

"I'm Tom, those are my son's Ben and Hale. Weaver is the leader of the second mass and those are Mike and Corey." Tom quickly introduced everyone. Adelaide looked up at Ben, her multifarious eyes giving him the impression she knew something about him already.

"What was your mission once you found survivors?" Weaver asked.

"Well, once I found them, I'm suppose to lead them back to bass camp since I was trained and have all the safe routes and other routes memorized." She said, pointing to where they were on the map and then gliding her finger to a spot nearby it.

"The plane dropped me off here, I rode for a few days until I found you. Reports were sent that the planes found a large group in this area." Her finger then went to a further distance up the map. "Charlestown, here, has a safe, absolute perimeter almost a couple miles around it. It took a couple hours of flight to reach the place of my drop-off, but with your large group it may take weeks or months to reach the town."

Weaver nodded, "Yes, we had figured." Adelaide nodded, "But, I can at least show you safe or alternate routes to get there. Even routes not on this map." She said seriously as she lifted her backpack off her shoulder, retrieving a large paper rolled up.

She laid the paper over there map, it was identical, but had many markings in all different colors.

"What does the red symbolize?" Hal asked, noticing large quantities of it on the map, Adelaide frowned, "Skitter sightings and bases." Making everyone breathe an oh. "The purple though, is routes not on the map." She pointed to the small number of lines.

"Thank you, you of course are welcome to travel with us. Ben can show you a place to stay for the night until we find you a permanent bedding arrangement." Weaver explained, him and his men already overlooking her map and improvising with the routes they planned. Adelaide nodded a thanks as she followed the boy out of the tent, not realizing the look of jealously in his brothers eyes.

"Your harnessed?" She asked, tilting her head to look at his neck as they exited the tent, ignoring the large number of people gathered outside it. Ben looked away, "Yes." His voice holding so much anger to it. Adelaide laughed, the wind making her hair blow wildly.

"It's ok, I don't care." She smiled patting his shoulder, the people around them gasping as her voice echoed. Ben glared ahead, knowing they hated him for those things on his back. He hated them, he hated so much! The aliens ruined everything for him, "She was harnessed!" There shrieks sounded, he looked at her wide eyed, the wind blowing her hair again, showing the small puncture spikes along her neck.

"I know how you feel." Her eyes were downcasted, Ben patted her shoulder this time as the mumuring increased.

The two looked at each other smiling, ignoring the people around them.

* * *

**Author's note: WooooOooooooOooooo twist, tell me whay you guys think(:**


	2. Chapter 2

**Harnessment**

"You were harnessed?" Weaver asked, stretching his words. Adelaide sighed impatiently, glaring at the men that surrounded her, there weapons at hand.

"It doesn't make any difference." She reasoned, "You trust Ben." Her voice sharp. It had been only a day before they confronted her about the certain spikes along her back. Ben and her bonded fast, very fast before they dragged her away like some enemy.

"She's right." Tom said, knowing how it felt to see Ben deal with the miss trust among his own people.

Weaver's glare did not waver as he paced back and fourth, "Fine." he huffed, waving his men away. Adelaide crossed her legs, staring at Weaver as the men left. Tom remained at the door, as if she would attack and he would need to back him up, it irritated her.

"I'm human too!" She said abruptly.

"Yes, but if any act of treason should arise. We will have to leave you behind." Weaver explained. Adelaide rolled her eyes as she strolled out of the tent. Weaver frowned as he watched the tent flap close.

"Tom…it's so hard to believe how the world changed." He said, leaning against the table. "I just told a teenage girl she would be left behind to die if she betrayed us. A teenage girl!" He exclaimed. Imaging his daughter in Adelaide's place.

Tom looked away, "We just need to accept it." He sighed, leaving Weaver.

Adelaide made her way threw the crowds, putting on her happy face as she explained the wonders of Charlestown to many of the citizen survivors. She would smile and wave and give hellos as she made her way further into the camp. Her happy exterior melting as she entered more deserted parts of the camp.

"Ben?" She called, or more like talked. Knowing he could hear her.

"Up here." He sounded, her acute hearing picking his words up. She smiled, truly, as she sprinted up a hill. She grinned as she saw him, he was overlooking the landscape. The two smiled as they sat next to each other, talking the whole night away.

He watched her every movement, from the way her fingers would graze the leaf's from the trees they passed, to how she held her gun with such confidence, to the way she would smile and talk to Maggie, her hair would blow slightly sending back waves on intoxicating scents. Today, she smelled like strawberries. Ben never knew he'd like strawberries so much.

"So Ben, Adelaide's cool?" Hal said, or more like asked. Curious of her.

"Hm?" He looked up at him, "Uh, yeah. Extremely." He muttered, coming out of his trance.

"I've only talked to her once or twice, but everyone around here seems to be in love with her." Hal pointed out, hoping to get more out of his brother.

"Who wouldn't." Ben said.

Hal remained silent, watching Adelaide, he was getting nothing out of him.

"It's nice having another person like me here. I'm so used to being the best here, but she's even faster and stronger then me." Ben laughed, Hal could almost see Adelaide look back and laugh as well. "It's nice." He smiled, looking up at her.

"Ok, we need someone to quickly scout ahead." Weaver called, his eyes already resting on Ben, who was stepping forward.

"How far ahead?" He asked, stretching his legs.

"A mile around, we're making camp here before we pass the city." Weaver announced, people already starting the unpacking rituals.

"Be careful, I'll send others to scout behind us and to our sides." He told Ben as others gathered around.

"I'm taking Adelaide, she's faster then me." Ben breathed, only getting a nod from Weaver. Adelaide smiled looking over at him, her gun already slugged over her back like she knew.

"Ready?" She asked taking off, Ben laughed running after her.

Weaver watched his men separate to search the perimeter, but he could only focus on the two that went ahead. He was still amazed at how fast they were. He knew it was good that Ben found someone else as him, and she was trustworthy so far. All her routes proving to be well and bypassing skitters. Yet, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about her.

Ben and Adelaide stopped near a small river, sitting on the rocks for a break. They ran further then Weaver had commanded, they figured scouting a little ahead couldn't be that bad. So far, the area ahead of them was skitter-less.

"Ben, how much has the harness affected your whole self?" Adelaide asked suddenly.

"Well, I'm faster stronger, all my senses are so acute, as if I'm seeing and listening in HD." He explained, chucking a small pebble across the water.

"Have you've ever been able to take it further?" She asked seriously.

"Like how?"

Adelaide never had a chance to explain as the echo of a loud machine sounded, making them quickly hide. They climbed up a tree for cover, the darkness was already a good cover, but the dense leaf's made them look nonexistence.

"Mechs." She whispered.

"Where are they going?" Ben asked, moving a branch up next to her, making them practically squished against each other.

"The city." She pointed, they were making there way towards the large city that towered over the trees ahead of them.

"We have to warn Weaver." Ben said, the two of them nodding, waiting for the Mechs to go further ahead before wiggling there way out of the tree.

They landed on the ground with a soft a thud, Ben helped Adelaide out by holding her hand-even though he knew she didn't need it.

"Ready-Ben!" She gasped, he whirled around.

They stood there frozen. The Skitter moved closer to them, the spikes on there backs glowing. It's one red eye observed them, it's head tilting as the spikes glowing grew brighter. The glowing started flickering as the odd skitter quickly disappeared from where it came.

There eyes met, and he suddenly knew what she meant by taking there harnessed powers further.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bonds**

"Hey dad, is it just me or have Adelaide and Ben been awfully…close lately?" Hal asked as him and Tom walked along side the cars, weapons at hand.

"Stay alert." Tom whistled, looking along top of the roofs and alleyways as they passed threw the city. Hal laughed, "Your telling me that your not curious?" He smirked raising his eyebrow. Tom grinned as he looked ahead. "Curious?" Hal asked again smugly, the two watching a certain pair walking ahead of them.

"Curious of what?" Maggie asked, riding her bike along side of them, just entering hearing range.

"That." Hal clarified, nodding ahead of them. The trio stared ahead, watching. Maggie observed the two of them, Ben and Adelaide. Adelaide's hair somehow managed to retain that look of cleanliness, only it was no longer shiny and had little frizz at the ends. Her cloths had a few dirt spots, and she somehow still smelled amazing. Maggie smirked, it was her stash of perfume. When she saw Hal flirting with her one night she offered her a little sample for 'just in case.'

Tom turned his head observing how Ben's hand would 'causally' bump into Adelaide's. He noticed how they would talk and laugh, seemly having inside jokes, a lot of inside jokes he noted-a lot. The wind would casually blow there jackets, showing there identical spikes. He stopped there, ignoring the spikes.

"Do it Ben. Come on." Hal whispered, watching as Ben walked closer to her. Maggie smirked looking over at him. "What?" Hal asked, "Just helping my brother out-yes!" He shouted a little to loudly as he saw them holding hands. Maggie smiled, looking at the slight blush on Adelaide's face as she looked at Ben.

"We gotta congratulate him then dad!" Hal exclaimed, pounding his dads arm. Tom smiled-yes, we was proud of Ben.

Weaver gave out orders as they entered to there camp site for the night. "Ben, Adelaide, you go scouting for food." He motioned towards the teenagers, who nodded and walked away.

Adelaide rode the back of the bike with Ben, the two laughing as they rode away, "I don't understand how they just laugh." Hal sighed as he boarded his bike. Tom looked over at him, "When you make deep bonds with a person you don't even have to know what there saying, you can practically reads there mind." He smiled, his eyes landing on a certain female Doctor.

"To take the harnessed benefits further…" Ben asked as they walked threw an empty mini-market, collecting a few odds and ends left behind.

"It take times." Her voice echoed from the back, although it wasn't her talking. Her lips were sealed as her eyes scanned top shelves, smiling as she found canned spaghetti.

"After extreme practice it comes as second nature." She explained, her lips sealed again, yet her voice rang threw his head.

"Telekinetic. I remember being able to understand the skitter, and when I would go skitter hunting I could sense they were near." He explained as she walked up to him, dropping the can into his sack.

"Not only were our physical bodies affected, but our mental ones as well." She spoke this time, "We can now access more of our brain, unlike the normal human standard. Giving us almost physic abilities." She smiled.

"Can we do more then just talking with our minds?" He asked as they walked out, there hands intertwined, she smiled as she swung there arms up and down.

"Only time can tell." She smirked, the bike starting on its own.

Ben smiled as he looked from the bike back to her, "Eventually you can move objects with just a thought, but it takes so much energy and concentration. I haven't perfected it yet." She smiled sheepishly, already to the point of exhaustion with it.

Ben laughed as he helped her on the bike, feeling how heavy her arms were as they wrapped around him, "Just take it easy." He smiled as he rode back to camp.

Anne was used to dealing with the constant injuries of the second mass, being the only doctor meant a lot of work on her part. Although for once, it was a relaxful day. No injuries. Tom was massaging her back as she sat on one of the beds in the truck, overlooking everyone.

"I'm just waiting for some injury to occur." She breathed, her anxiety rising.

"The more you think about the more your going to worry. Just enjoy the break." Tom laughed, massaging her shoulders.

She almost followed his words when a bike roared into a camp, with an unconscious passenger on the back.

"Adelaide?" Tom asked as he leaned over, trying to make out the person out the window. Anne was already out the door as Ben picked her up bridal style, he was very calm, she guessed he was used to people getting hurt around him-no offense.

"Is she alright?" She asked as she rushed over, her hands waiting to inspect any injury. Ben laughed, making Tom give him a weird look. Anne lifted her eyebrows-was he happy now about people getting hurt? This didn't sound right.

"What happened?" Tom asked, stepping by Anne's side.

"Nothing, she's sleeping." Ben smiled as he whispered, looking down at her, admiring her.

"What." Anne asked a little shocked, who falls asleep on a motorized bike?

"She's exhausted, I'm going to take her to our tent. She needs to rest." Ben explained, walking away.

Tom smiled as he looked at Anne, "See, today's a restful day. Relax." Anne looked away from him smugly, marching back to the truck. Why did he always have to be right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Double-sided**

"You cant be serious." Ben echoed, watching her silhouette disappear into the dark shadows of the forest.

"Ben, you've been in contact with the skitter, have you've not? He's trying to help us." She cooed, her voice the only evidence of existence in the darkness.

"…ok." He agreed hestitantly, following her.

There footsteps were light as they entered the city, the sun was just rising. "I have something to do." She frowned as they parted ways, giving each other a peck on the cheek before they left, Ben was already stuck in his trance as he entered a building. His legs pushing him to the top, until he was on the rooftop. He felt like everything inside him was on fire. It just felt right.

His arms were raised to the sun, many, many rooftops away, he was being mimic. There calls echoing back to Ben.

Yes, everything felt so right.

* * *

Explosions-and lots of them-terrified the second mass. They could see the fiery battle rage on in the city. Something wasn't right. Soon, many gathered, watching a once magnifcant city, be destoryed twice. Weaver already had a team ready to expect the fight. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

* * *

"They're killing there own kind now?" Voices echoed as the human's observed the dead skitters. Adelaide kept herself hidden, listening to there words. She held her breathe as one of the fighters passed her, his shadow passing her face.

"Ben? Ben!" She could hear Hal yell as footsteps ran towards her east, making the man leave his spot.

"Ben?" She could hear confusion as the others gathered around. Her eyebrows knitted together, Ben?

"Rick!" Her eyes widened, Rick, no he should've been dead. She mentally cursed herself as she crouched down, making herself unnoticeable as they carried the kid away. Her eyes narrowed hearing there retreating footsteps, he was going to ruin everything.

She made sure everything was clear as she dashed off the opposite way. Rick. She really disliked that kid. Everything about him. He claimed to love there new family, and then he left them and joined the resistance of the skitters. Those skitters who turned there back's to her leader, they were worse then the human's.

In fact, she loathed the kid. If she had it her way, he would be lieing on the pavement, beheaded.

* * *

Adelaide frowned as she leaned against the alley wall, everything was going horribly wrong. Her connection with Ben was severed, she could no longer access his thoughts. To make it worse, he was with the traitor of a skitter.

"Adelaide." She adverted her eyes to a small shop to her right. A smirk rising on her lips.

"Karen." She greeted back, meeting the harnessed girl half way. She tilted her head upwards, admiring the multiple mechs that formed a line behind her.

"He's still alive." Karen said, except it wasn't Karen. It was the leader of the aliens. She could tell from the sharpness of her words, and the dullness of her eyes.

"I know-"

"Rick and Ben will be annihilated if they do not pick there sides." Karen cut her off, her voice firm.

Adelaide frowned, "You have a week. Turn them over to us. Your brothers and sisters miss you, we need you." Her voice was soft, she was using the phrase that somehow comforted Adelaide. She had her family back at the compounds, they were waiting for her to return the brothers they've lost, and together they could help there leader overtake many planets and rule.

"I will not fail." She breathed, making Karen smile as she turned to leave.

* * *

The red eyed traitor was kept in a holding cell. The human's refused to belive his story of retaliation, his only believer being Rick. And Ben. Adelaide furried her eyebrows, how could someone betray the ones that gave them so much more power then ever before, and so much love and capacity and care.

She was caught up in her thoughts, not noticing how the men were arguing as the sounds of the hunter mechs came. One of them freaked, and shot his gun off, trying to kill the skitter. Her eyes connected with Rick's for a second as he fell to the ground, blood surrounding his chest. For a moment, her stolid face broke. Rick was shoot! It seemed to register so slowly as he started to slip away.

Tom looked from her to Rick, before gathering his gun and sprinting towards the fight. It was just the two of them. Everything seemed to spin around Adelaide.

"A-a-a-a-del-di-di." Rick stammered as she stood over him, her eyes cold.

"You should've listened to me Rick. You should've listened." She smirked, watching as his body grew cold.


End file.
